Celebrating 27 years

Sister Cities

A Sister City relationship is an agreement between two cities or councils, where each city or council agrees to promote mutual understanding, friendship and professional conduct for the benefit of both communities and the promotion of local government.

The goal of Sister City relationships is to help develop enduring networks of communication between the cities of the world in order to cut across boundaries and reduce the likelihood of polarisation and conflict among nations.

To achieve the stated goals, the councils agree to work towards the following outcomes to:

facilitate cultural understanding between people from all backgrounds, within both councils and their respective communities

promote knowledge and understanding and extend the level of contact through all sectors of the community

bring together like-minded interest groups in each city

facilitate an exchange of youth at both primary and secondary school levels

exchange organisational staff to enrich council training and the development processes

provide a forum for sister-city experiences to be shared for the benefit and improvement of both councils and their communities

promote a councillor exchange program to assist the political process in local government

develop a relationship between the various sectors of each council to improve work processes

facilitate a better understanding of the challenges faced by each council and the actions taken to meet those challenges

provide a forum for the exchange of economic, trade, business, sustainability and technical information

How did it begin?

The Sister Cities Australia (SCA) began in 1979 as an association of local government areas to encourage, coordinate and support groups in developing relationships according to local needs. Today Australian cities and towns have over 500 sister city affiliations throughout the world and this number increases every year.

Randwick City Council’s sister cities

Randwick City Council currently has six (6) active Sister City relationships and each Sister City relationship has developed in a unique and different way. The purpose of these relationships is to work co-operatively for the good governance of both communities with the sharing of knowledge and resources; and to foster local sporting, education, business and cultural groups and organisations.

Randwick has three historical Sister City relationships and three operational Sister City relationships.